The subject matter herein relates generally to cable header connectors.
High speed differential connectors are known and used in electrical systems, such as communication systems to transmit signals within a network. Some electrical systems utilize cable mounted electrical connectors to interconnect the various components of the system.
Signal loss and/or signal degradation is a problem in known electrical systems. For example, cross talk results from an electromagnetic coupling of the fields surrounding an active conductor or differential pair of conductors and an adjacent conductor or differential pair of conductors. The strength of the coupling generally depends on the separation between the conductors, thus, cross talk may be significant when the electrical connectors are placed in close proximity to each other.
Moreover, as speed and performance demands increase, known electrical connectors are proving to be insufficient. Additionally, there is a desire to increase the density of electrical connectors to increase throughput of the electrical system, without an appreciable increase in size of the electrical connectors, and in some cases, a decrease in size of the electrical connectors. Such increase in density and/or reduction in size cause further strains on performance.
In order to address performance, some known systems utilize shielding to reduce interference between the contacts of the electrical connectors. However, the shielding utilized in known systems is not without disadvantages. For instance, at the interface between the signal conductors and the cables signal degradation is problematic due to improper shielding at such interface. The termination of the cable to the signal conductors is a time consuming and complicated process. In some systems, the cables include drain wires, which are difficult and time consuming to terminate within the connector due to their relatively small size and location in the cable. For example, the drain wires are soldered to a grounded component of the electrical connector, which is time consuming. Furthermore, general wiring practices require that the drain either be placed facing upward or placed facing downward at the termination, which adds complexity to the design of the grounded component of the electrical connector and difficulty when soldering the drain wire at assembly. Motion of the cable during handling can add unwanted stresses and strains to the cable terminations resulting in discontinuity or degraded electrical performance. Additionally, consistent positioning of the wires of the cables before termination is difficult with known electrical connectors and improper positioning may lead to degraded electrical performance at the termination zone. When many cable assemblies are utilized in a single electrical connector, the grounded components of the cable assemblies are not electrically connected together, which leads to degraded electrical performance of the cable assemblies.
Some known electrical connectors use contact modules with plastic overmolded housings to hold and position signal leads. The plastic signal assemblies may be fragile. The plastic signal assemblies are flexible by nature. The plastic signal assemblies are subject to warpage from the molding process, which negatively affects the tolerances of the final product.
A need remains for an electrical system having improved structures for supporting signal leads in an electrical connector.